Research Progress in Ulcerative Colitis: The Role of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Gut Microbiota and Signaling Pathways

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis (UC), one among other refractory diseases worldwide, has shown an increasing trend of progression to colorectal cancer in recent years. In the treatment of UC, traditional Chinese medicine has demonstrated good efficacy, with a high cure rate, fewer adverse effects, great improvement in the quality of patient survival, and reduction in the tendency of cancerous transformation. It shows promise as a complementary and alternative therapy. This review aims to evaluate and discuss the current research on UC, signaling pathways, and gut microbiota. We also summarized the mechanisms of action of various Chinese medicines (active ingredients or extracts) and herbal formulas, through signaling pathways and gut microbiota, with the expectation that they can provide references and evidence for treating UC and preventing inflammation-associated colorectal cancer by traditional Chinese medicine. We illustrate that multiple signaling pathways, such as TLR4, STAT3, PI3K/Akt, NF-[Formula: see text]B, and Keap1/Nrf2, can be inhibited by Chinese herbal treatments through the combined regulation of signaling pathways and gut microbiota, which can act individually or synergistically to inhibit intestinal inflammatory cell infiltration, attenuate gut oxidative responses, and repair the intestinal barrier.